Date of Award
5-1986
Culminating Project Type
Thesis
Department
English
College
College of Liberal Arts
First Advisor
Judith Kilborn
Second Advisor
Phil Keith
Third Advisor
Bruce Romanish
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Keywords and Subject Headings
Sentence Combining; Reading and Writing
Abstract
"Sentence Combining and Its Effects on Writing and Reading Skills" examines research in four related categories: sentence combining as a process, the effects of sentence combining on writing skills, reading and writing connections, and sentence combining and its effects on reading. Because of the effect of sentence combining on writing skills and the reading/writing connections, sentence combining should improve reading skills.
Sentence combining allows writers to combine ideas into a compact format. Chapter I presents John Mellon as the primary developer of sentence combining and reviews the work of Wilma Ebbitt and David Ebbitt, who discuss the process of sentence combining.
Chapter II summarizes research which examines the effects of sentence-combining practice on writing. Various researchers promote sentence-combining practice and measure its effects upon students of all ages. Researchers have proven that sentence-combining practice improves syntactic maturity.
Chapter III presents recent research which relates reading to writing. Some theories indicate that specific steps in writing skills development can be applied to reading skills; others indicate that writing and reading skills cannot be separated and that practice in one skill will improve the other.
Because sentence combining improves writing skills and because communication skills are interdependent, sentence combining may be one method of improving reading skills. Chapter IV explores this possibility. Researchers suggest that sentence combining improves reading skills, yet research shows mixed results. Researchers who feel that sentence combining is a valuable tool for improving reading skills frequently qualify the generalization by indicating the need for specific methods. Others feel that it is not a valuable tool for improving reading skills, but they indicate that certain aspects of sentence-combining practice are valuable for improving writing and possibly reading skills.
Chapter V presents an experimental study which attempted to show the positive effects of sentence combining practice on reading. Seventh graders practicing sentence combining for only two weeks showed no improvement in reading comprehension; in fact, scores decreased due to many independent variables. However, the teacher felt that the students improved their writing during the experiment.
Were the experiment to be repeated, the researcher would require students to spend more time studying sentence combining, carefully monitor the teacher presenting the material, and devise a test which more accurately measures reading growth. Despite apparent decreases in scores, the researcher feels sentence combining is a valuable activity for promoting syntactic maturity.
Recommended Citation
Graham, Rebecca M., "Sentence Combining and its Effects on Writing and Reading Skills" (1986). Culminating Projects in English. 47.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/eng_etds/47
